DE S IGN CENTRE
possible when working on a large hotel where ultimately decisions are driven by money, whereas on a boutique hotel attention can be given to every nook and cranny. Todhunter Earle created the interiors for Dormy House in the Cotswolds and for Raymond Blanc at Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons. “Raymond has a wild imagination and free spirit. The rooms are anything but a ‘home away from home’ there – they are in fact very different to anyone’s home! RB always says that he wants his guests to leave behind any mundane or worrying day- to-day thoughts when they visit Le Manoir, for that short stay they have to enter a different world and completely relax.” The guest experience also takes centre stage in
the design process. “I think the people who choose a boutique hotel know what they are looking for. They want the personal touches, a feeling that they are going to somewhere different to where they have been before,” says hotelier and designer Georgina Pearman who designed the interior at the recently opened The Double Red Duke. Here, again, no two rooms are the same. “A boutique hotel definitely lends itself to be able to tell a story. We wanted to create a cosy, comfortable, and fun hotel in the Cotswolds with great food and atmosphere. I have focused on using the best of British suppliers for our wallpapers, fabrics, paint – pretty much everything, in fact. We used Samuel Heath for the bathrooms and Lewis & Wood amongst others for fabrics and wallpapers, mixing them with antique pieces and Samuel & Sons for the trims.” For interior designer Nicola Harding the fact that
half of her work is residential and half is in hospitality enables her to “blur the difference between the two”. She has recently completed work on the Mitre, Hampton Court and Beaverbrook Town House in Chelsea. For her, authenticity is key, and guests should feel a connection through the design to the part of the world they are staying in. She believes boutique hotels are much more about “the spirit” of the design rather than the size. “When a room is filled with pieces that have a story – maybe a fabric that is made locally or a vintage table that was sourced from a local antique dealer or a sketch of a bird that nests in the garden – then the experience is richer and it feels meaningful,” says Harding. “There’s an ayurvedic belief that if you eat food that has been grown and prepared with love then when you eat it, you are infused with love. I think the same is true of interiors, if you rest in a place that has been lovingly put together and where all the individual parts have been lovingly made then you too will be infused with love and given a sense of joy in the world.” After two years of the pandemic, it is no wonder that
people are seeking out smaller more intimate spaces especially when staying in cities. However, what is clear is it’s not just about size but about being taken on a journey to somewhere far more exciting than home.
TOP TO BOTTOM: The Double Red Duke, a newly refurbished country inn with rooms in the Cotswolds,
features brassware from Samuel Heath in the bathrooms; a sumptuous room by Nicola Harding at Beaverbrook Town House – the designer believes that guests have a richer experience when the design has a story to tell
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Photo: Paul Massey
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